Saturday, July 30, 2016

The future of space exploration


The article “Future of space exploration could see humans on Mars, alien planets” clearly points out that space travel should remain a human endeavor. Manned space exploration is an essential part of exploring the planets, moons, and eventually new galaxies. Although it may seem easier to send robots in space and let them perform the exploration, proving us with the information about the new space destinations, human curiosity and spirit of exploration is the main driving force for going into space.

Personally, I have always wanted to be an Astronaut. Being born in Russia at the peak of the space race, I was watching on television the cosmonauts getting ready to launch from the Baikonur space port. I dreamed that one day I would be one of those people in thespace suits, launching to the space station. It was motivating to see humans achieving something so great and amazing and it made me want to be a part of it. It is funny to think about it, they still use the same Soyuz launch vehicle as they did decades ago!

           Human spaceflight is inspirational to many. It is part of human nature to strive to achieve something great and to touch the unknown. "I look forward to seeing human footprints on the surface of Mars in my lifetime," says professor Steltzner, who served as the lead engineer for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity (Redd, 2014).

            Nevertheless, human space exploration has many challenges, comparing to robotic space travel. Humans bodies are not designed to withstand extreme radiation exposure, zero gravity environments, and temperature extremes. Long missions in zero gravity may cause adverse health effects, such as bone loss, muscle deterioration, heart muscle weakening, and higher probability of cancers. The human body is not designed to withstand high gravitational loads experienced during spacecraft launch and landing. For instance, the Curiosity landing on the Martian atmosphere generated 15 times the acceleration of gravity (15 gs). Humans would never have survived this landing. “At 15gs, the retinas would detach from the eyes”, the article states (Redd, 2014).

Humans require food, water, and oxygen, which will need to be constantly replenished or enough for the entire mission will need to be carried. That would require a much larger delivery craft to handle the additional payload. The design of the human space vehicles and habitats must have multiple levels of redundancy and life support systems.  It would also require a larger team of mission support personnel to monitor, plan, and troubleshoot every aspect of the mission. Ultimately, all of these additional considerations cost more money. The argument is: Isn’t it easier, safer and less expensive to send an unmanned vehicle, which does not require all the additional life-support systems to the same planned destinations for less.

However, the entire idea of space exploration rests on the possibility that one-day people will need to colonize a new planet. Someday Earth may not be suitable for humans to live on due to several possible circumstances. A disaster, similar to what caused the distinction of dinosaurs may strike our planet or due to a growing population, climate and environmental issues the Earth could become too small or too toxic for our habitation. This leads to what Steltzner termed the "terraforming paradox," in which the skills and abilities necessary to change another planet to suit human needs are the same that are necessary to keep Earth suitable and sustainable. All the capabilities needed to accomplish human interstellar travel are the same skills which are required for successful human survival (Starship, n.d.).

In my opinion, human spaceflight is also a main driver for research and the creator of the newand advanced technologies, which can also be used on Earth. The project called the 100-Year Starship is intended to design technologies, which may allow for interstellar travel in the next 100 years. It is an interesting endeavor, and -who knows- it may succeed. Still, it will certainly ignite the interest, foster innovation, and create enthusiasm about space travel. The 100-Year Starship program will not only involve scientists and engineers, but also artists and science fiction writers.

It is my personal opinion- that human space exploration should continue. However, unmanned systems should be an essential part of it. Robots can be send to scout new space destinations, collect data, and prepare the planets and the moons for future human arrivals. Manned space program cannot function without unmanned technology. Humans and robots should work in synergy toward new discoveries, and new endeavors.

           The planetary scientist Joshua Colwell states: ‘While valuable advances have been made because of the manned program, it cannot and should not be justified on the grounds of scientific advancement. It is instead about something equally important as science — the inspiration of our species to pursue lofty goals” (Colwell & Britt, 2016).


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Saturday, July 23, 2016

RoboBees


Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) range from small quadcopters, that are hand-launched by hobbyists to large, full-scale unmanned aircraft, such as the Predator and the Global Hawk. The size of each of these UAVs are specifically selected to perform a certain mission. What about micro UAVs, which size is no larger than a regular bee? What advantages do they offer and what kind of missions can they perform? This blogpost focuses on these micro flying robots, which are created to resemble insects and even mimic the behaviors of the bugs.
In June 2016, the National Science Foundations published an article “The flight of the RoboBee”, which describes the amazing capabilities of these micro-UAVs, their benefits, and possible applications. In 2009, the RoboBee project of Harvard University received its first grant (Dubrow, 2016). Since then, the micro-UAV development has received a lot of attention due to considerable advances in design and technology. The micro-UAV research aims to create autonomous robotic insects capable of sustained and autonomous flight.
One of the main applications for the RoboBees is performing crop pollination- the job usually accomplished by the honeybees. Honeybees alone contribute more than $15 billion in value to U.S. agricultural crops each year (Spector, 2014). In recent years, the honey bee population has been drastically declining due to several factors, such as parasites, disease, and pesticides. If the number of honey bees continues to decline at such an alarming rate, the agricultural sector will feel the negative impacts in terms of the declining crop volumes. Although the RoboBees technology is still in its development stage, the researchers believe that in less than 10 years these micro-UAVs could artificially pollinate the crops.
Yet, agricultural uses are not the only job micro- UAVs can perform. They are also able to assist in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions or provide support in remote communications. After natural disasters, the micro-UAVs can assist in search and rescue mission. They can also perform traffic monitoring and law enforcement missions. A swarm of the RoboBees can conduct environmental research, collect data about air contamination, including searching for methane leaks that are a significant source of greenhouse gas pollution (Langston, 2016).
The RoboBees have their strength in numbers. Most of the RoboBees applications will require swarms of thousands of the micro-UAVs working together, autonomously coordinating their operations without relying on a leader- or a “mother-bee”. Large swarm will ensure that the mission will be accomplished even if a large number of single RoboBees fail. As we can see, the micro-UAV applications are quite diverse.
Now, let’s focus on design and some of the technological features of the RoboBees. The inspiration to create these micro-UAVs came from nature. Insects have the amazing ability to takeoff, navigate, communicate, and perform precise maneuvers despite their small bodies and tiny brains.
The RoboBee is close to the size of a real bee and weighs only 84 milligrams. Currently, these UAVs are being flown with the use of a tether, however, researchers are working on some advanced control and power solutions for this vehicles. To create this micro flying robots, the researchers had to experiment with compact power storage, ultra-low power computing, artificial muscles, and bio-inspired sensors.
The RoboBee is an aerial system, that consists of three main parts: the vehicle, the brain, and the colony. The vehicle body is designed to be autonomously flown by using “artificial muscles” made out of materials that contract when a voltage is applied. The UAV should be compact and carry its own power source and all the required sensors.  The “brain” of the micro-UAS is comprised of sensors and control electronics that imitate the eyes and antennae of a bee, and can sense and respond to the environment, avoid obstacles and perform agile maneuvering. The Colony component of the system is concerned with managing and coordinating the performance of the independent UAS as a swarm to effectively complete the required mission (Wyss Institute, n.d.).



Figure 1. RoboBee. Adapted from “Tiny flying robots are being built to pollinate crops instead of real bees”, by D. Spector, 2014. Copyright by Wyss Institute.

One of the most challenging aspects of the RoboBee is its power system design.  Many applications for these UAVs would require the RoboBees to perform long endurance operations. However, one of the disadvantages of smaller size of the vehicles is their inability to carry enough power for the mission. To give the robo-insects longer endurance, the researchers came up with breakthrough solution- the use perching technique to save energy. This energy conservation behavior is found in other insects, birds, and bats.



Figure 2. RoboBee Perched on the leaf. ADpated from “RoboBees can perch to save energy”, by L. Burrows, L, 2016, Harvard Gazette. Copyright by Wyss Institute.

In the case of the RoboBees, the researchers incorporated electrostatic adhesion technique — the same principal that causes a static-charged balloon to stick to a wall. By employing the perching technique, the RoboBee will use about 1000 times less power than during hovering. It will help extend mission time without the need for larger battery incorporation (Burrows, 2016).
The perching construction consists of an electrode patch and a foam base that absorbs shock. This modification allows the robot to stick to almost any surface, when the electrode patch is supplied with a charge. When the UAV is ready to take off again, the electrical charge is turned off. 
Researcher estimate that in the next 10 years, the RoboBees will be able to carry out every day operations. To achieve this goal, they plan to equip these vehicles with new capabilities. The latest generation of micro-bees will be able to swim.  They plan to incorporate micro- laser sensors to aid the bees with better environmental sensing and obstacle avoidance.
The RoboBee project is not only created the amazing micro-UAS, but it also developed new technologies which can be used in other areas. For example, several of the RoboBees principal investigators are now participating in a DARPA-sponsored venture making new surgical tools based on the microfabrication technologies developed in the RoboBees project.



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Sunday, July 17, 2016

Unmanned Maritime Systems


The maritime domain is also roamed by unmanned systems, including unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). In the civilian sector, unmanned maritime technology is used for such applications as oceanography, environmental research, search and rescue, and even archeology. However, the main driving force for unmanned maritime systems (UMS) are military applications, which include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), mine countermeasures (MCM), and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). While a lot of applications of unmanned maritime systems are still in their infancy, UMS technology is advancing rapidly and constantly improving.

The use of the USVs in the ASW missions can offer many advantages. USVs have the capability to perform these dangerous missions without putting human lives in danger. USVs can be designed with greater endurance, allowing them to perform their missions with longer periods without refueling. The USVs are capable of carrying large payloads and sensor suites. The design of USV can be stealthier which would allow the vessel to perform covert operations. USVs can be built for high speed operations allowing them to track and follow enemy submarines while still being small and quite making them difficult to detect.  

In the article “Ghost ship: stepping aboard Sea Hunter, the Navy’s unmanned drone ship”, by Rick Stella, published in April of 2016, the author talks about the new unmanned surface vehicle (USV) being built by the United States Navy. The Sea Hunter USV is developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is built under the named Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV).

The ACTUV program is designed to accomplish several goals:

·                  The first goal is to design a fully autonomous vessel, where aa a human is never intended to operate aboard at any point of the mission. This kind of autonomy will reduce life-support requirements and decrease constraints on conventional ship construction components such as accessibility, layout, crew support arrangements, and reserve buoyancy.

·                  The second goal is to develop the propulsion system of the vessel, which is able to exceed the speeds of diesel electric submarines and at the same time be cost efficient.

·                  The third goal is to design a high endurance vessel, which can operate over thousands of miles with several month endurance with minimal control intervention from the human operator. The USV should be able to autonomously comply with maritime laws and conventions for safe navigation, perform autonomous system supervision for operational reliability, and perform autonomous interactions with an enemy (Littlefield, n.d.).



Figure 1. The Sea Hunter USV. Adapted from “Ghost ship: Stepping aboard Sea Hunter, the Navy’s unmanned drone ship,” by R. Stella, 2016. Technology Trends. Copyright by DARPA.



The Sea Hunter is originally designed to detect and track quiet diesel electric submarines. However, with its large available payload capacity, the vessel will be capable of performing a wide variety of missions. Currently, the Sea Hunter is in its trial stage, and it is truly the vessel of the future.

The USV is quite large, measuring 132 feet long with 145-ton displacement (Stella, 2016). The ship has a fiberglass composite exterior and a foam core. It has a narrow body construction and is designed to travel at speeds up to 27 knots. The pontoons on both sides of the vessel provide stability. The outriggers attached to the main vessel are used to absorb stress. The sturdy Sea Hunter is built to perform its mission through Sea State 7 (wave heights of up to 20 feet). The vessel is also capable of long endurance operations. It is able to carry up to 40 tons of diesel fuel, which can supply up to three months of autonomous mission time (Courtland, 2016).

The Sea Hunter is designed to be fully autonomous. It incorporates the Sparse Supervisory Control architecture, which does not require a human operator to interfere, except for emergency situations. From the moment the ship is launched from the dock, it can autonomously commence its operations, avoiding obstacles and activating its payloads to accomplish its main goal- ASW mission. To seamlessly perform its tasks, the ship must comply with the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (Stella, 2016). The Sea Hunter uses its onboard radar and an automatic ship identification system, which allows it to automatically detect vessels and obstacles, and maneuver to avoid the collision in all weather conditions, day and night. The ACTUV designers are also testing special camera sensors to allow visual vessel classification, since collision prevention maneuvering rules vary with vessel type (Courtland, 2016).

Although the main sensory payload equipment is classified, it is known, that the Sea Hunter will use a specially designed sonar equipment to track ultra- silent diesel electric submarines (Littlefield, n.d.). It has onboard information processing architecture, which allows the vessel to interpret the collected data without human help. The USV would track enemy submarine, defeat the efforts of the sub to “delouse” itself, and periodically report the sub’s position, speed and course (Savitz et al., 2013).

It is unclear how the USV would defend itself in case of possible air strikes, deliberate ramming by another vessel, jamming, electronic warfare or other attack (Savitz et al., 2013). Mission trials showed that the USV can effectively detect submarine targets at distances up to two miles. The Sea Hunter prototype is scheduled to undergo sea trials and experimentations and planned to be deliver to the Navy by the end of 2018.

The Sea Hunter is an excellent example of progress in the UMS technology. With highly expendable payload capabilities, it can offer tremendous benefits for a wide range of missions and configurations for future unmanned naval vessels, which go beyond ASW applications.

Figure 2. The Sea Hunter on the ASW mission. Adapted from “Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV),” by S. Littlefield, n.d. Copyright by DARPA.



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Saturday, July 9, 2016

SAFFiR firefighting robot


     One of the primary purposes of unmanned systems is to keep humans out of danger by performing dangerous, dirty, and dull tasks. Fires represent one of the greatest dangers to sailors, working onboard U. S. Navy ships. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has developed a robotic firefighter to work alongside humans to fight fires. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR), which is pronounced as “safer”, performs firefighting tasks aboard the Navy ships, keeping the sailors safe and providing enhanced situational awareness for human firefighters. This unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is a humanoid robot, which measures 5 feet 10 inches and weighs 143 pounds (Gaudin, 2016).

       The 2016 article by Sharon Gaudin talks about this amazing robot, which will potentially be a great benefit for the United States Navy. It is not only designed for the firefighting applications, but also is capable of performing basic maintenance tasks, such as checking for corrosion and leaks. By performing everyday maintenance and inspections, the SAFFiR could free up sailors for more advanced technical jobs onboard of the ship. Figure 1 depicts the prototype of the SAFFiR.



Figure 1. The SAFFiR humanoid firefighter trials. Adopted from “Making sailors ’SAFFiR’ - Navy unveils firefighting robot prototype at Naval Tech EXPO,” by T. White, 2015. Copyright 2015 by U.S. Navy.

This UGV is designed to be capable to perform autonomous operations, however, initial robot design keeps the operator in the loop, allowing the human controller to monitor and override any action of the UGV. The main goal for the SAFFiR is to allow this robot to seamlessly work alongside its human counterparts on the Navy ships, responding to verbal commands and gestures, such as pointing and hand signals (Eshel, 2015).

To enable natural collaboration with a human “fire boss”, the robot will be equipped with multimodal interfaces that will enable the robot to track and focus its attention on the human team leader. Researchers are planning to further simplify the robot interaction by using natural language commands (White, 2015).

It is designed to endure high temperature environments, recognize fire hazards, and extinguish fires using a broad range of fire suppression tools. Its upper body will be capable of manipulating fire suppressors and throwing propelled extinguishing agent technology grenades. The SAFFiR is battery powered, which gives the robot about 30 minutes of firefighting mission time, after which time the battery needs to be recharged (McKinney, 2012). As we can see, the power system design still needs to be improved to allow for longer mission endurance, when necessary. Figure 2 represent some of the features of the SAFFiR.



Figure 2. The Naval Research Laboratory's Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR) is a humanoid-type robot being designed for shipboard firefighting. Adapted from “NRL designs robot for shipboard firefighting,” by D. McKinney, 2012. Copyright 2012 by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.



This bipedal robot can walk, balance, and navigate even on the moving ships, it can cross over obstacles, manipulate fire hoses, and install fire shielding equipment. It features a lightweight central aluminum construction, which allows for efficient transfers of loads throughout the UGV’s body. It’s six- axes force/torque sensor allows for strong feedback while walking.  The advanced joint movements are enabled by titanium springs installed in the robot’s “legs” (McKinney, 2012).

The SAFFiR is designed to “see” through dense smoke with a help of advanced sensor suit, including infrared stereo vision, gas sensor, and a rotating laser for light detection and ranging (LIDAR) (Gaudin, 2016). So far, the SAFFiR is in its testing stage. The first trials will take place onboard a decommissioned U.S. Navy vessel, the USS Shadwell, docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama.

The researchers are working to constantly improve and enhance the SAFFiR. The latest development for the humanoid includes a motion-planning algorithms to allow the robot to skillfully perform a variety of autonomous tasks. The U.S. Navy awarded a $600,000 grant to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute for development of the advanced motion algorithms for this UGV to work in complicated scenarios. These algorithms will allow the robot to be able to move quickly in confined spaces when working onboard a ship or submarine. It must also be able to stay balanced while the ship is moving in rough seas. Researchers are planning to improve the SAFFiR with enhanced computing power, and increase its ability to solve complicated tasks, and better communication capabilities, and longer endurance.

The main goal for the development of the firefighting robot is to prevent tragedies like the one onboard the USS Miami in May of 2012. The nuclear submarine was damaged by an onboard fire, started by a shipyard worker, while in a dry dock at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Seven people were injured during fire. Because of the degree of the damage to the vessel, the Navy inactivated the ship. (Gaudin, 2016).

Although, humanoid-type robots may seem less stable than their wheeled counterparts, the SAFFiR is showing promising results for life-saving applications, while skillfully balancing on a moving ships with the help of its advanced motion algorithms and with the constant advancements in robotic technology, humanoid-type UGVs will eventually play an important part in our everyday lives.

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